September 18, 2002

Back in the 1980s, Libya invaded Chad and got severely beat up by the more capable Chadian warriors. Some 2000 Libyans were captured and 350 of those accepted a US offer to join a secret Libyan rebel movement. The CIA brought the men to the US, granted them refugee status and trained them, but the US back rebels were never used. Relations improved with Libya and now there has been an agreement to allow the CIA backed Libyans to return to Libya. Not all want to, but some do. The first batch of 24 Libyans have returned home individually over the last few months.